Secondary school students of the port city of Hodeidah review their information at an examination center in Sanaa, Yemen, before attending the final exam after fleeing the city due to conflict on June 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

by Mohamed al-Azaki

SANAA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- After two weeks of continuing shelling, clashes and aerial bombardment, the family of high school student Ahmed al-Ahdal decided to flee their home in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

"My chest tightened," said al-Ahdal. "After months of hard studying, could I miss the final exam? ... Could I end my secondary school without earning final degree?" he asked.

The 18-year-old student along with his 16-member family of parents, brothers and sisters arrived last week in the capital Sanaa, where they rent a small house. The rent about 120 U.S. dollars is equivalent to a monthly salary in the war-stricken poor Arab country.

"We registered in the receiving center of internally displaced people (IDP) in Abu Bakr al-Siddik school upon our arrival, and they promised us to provide help," al-Ahdal told Xinhua.

"We are spending all our saving and we hope to return home very soon," he said.

Standing high before the gate of Hail school in downtown the capital Sanaa, al-Ahdal said "today I can make it ... I will do my final exams."

School manager Abdulmalik al-Daylami said around 70 displaced students have so far registered to attend the final exams, as he expected more numbers to come.

According to Houthi-controlled state Saba news agency, an estimated 198,136 high school students started on Saturday their national Grade 9 and 12 final exams across Yemen.

The agency reported that a total of 83,357 students, including 1,873 displaced students from Hodeidah port city, are reported to attend their final exams in the capital Sanaa, which is under their control since March 2015.

"We were living in peace near Hodeidah airport ... suddenly the war erupted, the fierce clashes and aerial bombardment came close, then we find ourselves forced to flee," said al-Ahdal as he was standing outside the secondary school in Sanaa, waiting along with other displaced students to sit for their final exams.

"I hope a peaceful political settlement be reached and the war ends very soon," he said.

Still sadness can be seen in his face and eyes. "Last week, i lost nine of my classmates in an air strike while they were sitting together afternoon at a friend's house near the airport (in Hodeidah) ... they all died," he recalled.

Unlike the Sanaa native students who seem well ready for the exams, the displaced students appeared clearly confused and tired. Each student carries a heavy story of suffering, but they all have one wish: peace.

Ahmed al-Maamari, a 19-year-old student, fled last week along with his six-member family from al-Mina quarter, also near Hodeidah.

He said they moved to a relative's house in Sanaa.

"The situation in Hodeidah city has become terrifying," he said. "We fled to save our lives."

"I'm lucky to take the exam today, but hundreds of my schoolmates are not ... they have been trapped in war zones in the western coast and in south of Hodeidah airport until today," al-Maamari said. "I lost contact with many of them."

Yemen, locked in a civil war for more than three years, is threatened to lose "young generation" in the armed conflict like the one in Syria, the United Nations humanitarian agencies have warned.

Some officials at the Houthi authorities estimated over 150,000 people have fled the military escalation in Hodeidah to many cities including the capital Sanaa since the pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition began advancing into the port city on June 13.

However, there were no specific number of the IDPs yet nor officials provide statistics, as they said the numbers are increasing everyday.

The UNICEF recent reports estimated that nearly half a million of Yemeni children have dropped out of schools since 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition forces intervened in the Yemeni conflict to roll back Iran-allied Shiite Houthi rebels and reinstall exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

At least 2,419 children have been recruited by the armed group since the war began in March 2015, according to the UNICEF.

More than 2,500 schools have been closed, with two thirds damaged by attacks, 27 percent closed, and 7 percent used for military purposes or as shelters for displaced people.

The war has so far killed at least 10,000 people, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million.

Saudi Arabia has long viewed Houthis as pawns for their most regional foe Iran and accused Houthis of smuggling in Iranian weapons through Hodeidah port. Both Houthis and Iran denied the accusations.

The coalition said its major offensive aimed to capture the port. However, Houthis have filled the port city with thousands of fighters and dug dozens of trenches inside and around the city in preparation for a deadly battle.

UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said after he met last week with exiled President Hadi in Aden and Houthi officials in Oman that he hoped to get the warring parties to the negotiating table in the next few weeks to end fighting at the port city of Hodeidah, a lifeline for Yemen.

Chief of Houthi group, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, last week said he had proposed Griffiths to place Hodeidah port management under the UN supervision.

The coalition welcomed Griffiths' efforts but stipulated full withdrawal of Houthis from the port city.